The Children's Game
by Melody Syper Carston
Summary: "I want to play your game... I'm in the children's room... We can all play it together..." Dark!fic, for Halloween


**The Children's Game**

**A/N:  
>Inspiration: Halloween, the song Louder than Thunder by Devil Wears Prada<br>Words: 2,118  
>Pairings: None<br>WARNINGS: First APH fic, mild language (if any), possibility of OOCness  
>Summary: <strong>_**"I want to play your game… I'm in the children's room… We can all play together… Oh,** _**_it took you quite some time to find me, Yao-Yao… I've grown bored of this game. And yet I've still won__."_**

**The Children's Game**

_Children, Children All around  
>Run before you can be found<br>For __**He**__ is on the loose today  
>Run and Hide before I say…<em>

The Allied Forces were having a meeting at Wang Yao's house that day… Yao was not pleased that he had been volunteered to host said meeting. He sighed and watched as the four others filed into the living room and sat around the table respectfully. The meeting was called to order and actually went quite smoothly without much of an argument between Francis, Arthur, and Alfred. A small disagreement here or there but no all out "releasing sexual tensions" fight.

Once the meeting was over, they all had tea, chattering about their governments and what was going on in their countries including recent trends and popular movies that had come out.

Yao sat back on his heels and observed them silently.

Alfred was laughing and exclaiming random things about his superiority to everyone else around him.

Francis was talking to a ghost next to him— Oh, wait that's Matthieu—in rapid French, both seemed to find whatever they were talking about highly amusing.

Matthieu's polar bear was asking who his owner was while still staring curiously at a small panda cub, which had plopped down next to Yao.

And Arthur was staring at something behind Yao. "E-er… Yao… Who is that child behind you?" He asked pointing in the same line of vision.

Yao tensed slightly and whipped his head around, expecting to see one of his people in the door. It wasn't uncommon for it to happen. His doors were always open for his children, but when he turned, no one was there. "Who are you talking about, aru? No one is in my house except you four…" he glanced around again.

"Then at least listen…" he pleaded, "they're chanting…"

Yao did as he was asked and listened carefully for whatever Arthur was talking about.

Giggles tinkled through the air and soft footsteps could be heard around the room. And then the chanting again. _"Children, children all around… Run before you can be found… For I am on the loose today… Run and Hide before I say…"_ Another giggle and then… _"..boo!"_

Another voice filled the room. _"Hello, Kiku!"_a louder voice greeted with a laugh.

**X~*~X**

"I have a meeting today with my boss. Kiku is in charge, aru. Behave, aru." Yao said to the three children. "Kiku, I want them in bed by the time I get back tonight. We won't be too far away, aru." He ruffled each of the children's hair with a soft smile, before he turned and left the home, pulling his long hair back in the process.

After the three ate dinner, they still had time before Kiku had deemed it bedtime, he had told them they were going to play a game.

The game was fairly simple. Kiku would stand in the middle of the living room and shut his eyes before chanting, "Children, children, all around, run before you can be found. For I am on the loose today. Run and Hide before I say…" and he'd stop so that he could listen to the shuffle of feet as they two others ran off, as quietly as they possibly could. Kiku would then open his eyes and walk around the house searching for the two others. If he thought that one of the boys were close, he would call out, "Boo!" and if he was correct, the boy would have to come out of his hiding spot and greet him, "Hello, Kiku." And then help him find the other. If the other was close enough to hear him, he was allowed time to find a new hiding spot.

The children adored this game.

On this particular night though, they had already found everyone and were all sitting in the living room again. Kiku was drawing pictures of the other two. Yong Soo was announcing that everything originated with his people while dancing around impatiently for his beloved Yao to return. Hong was staring at the fire with a mesmerized look in his eyes.

A sudden knock at the door alerted all of them, and made Kiku coil up as if ready to strike at any moment. He turned towards his brothers and spoke in a low voice. "It's probably just Yao-nii coming home early. Go get in bed, and I'll go check. I don't want any of you up. Pretend to be asleep." He stood carefully, being sure to balance himself on his feet in a way that made him nearly silent as his eldest brother had taught him to when fighting.

Hong and Yong Soo nodded and quickly made their way to their shared room. The two slipped into their beds and threw the covers over the heads, waiting and listening for any signal as to who was at the door.

_A simple sound of opening and closing a door was all that was heard._

_No, "I'm home, aru." No, "Are they asleep, aru?" No greeting of, "DiDi…"_

They held their as they listened to a quiet rustling sound and then, Kiku's voice was back. "Children, Children all around…" The boys shivered at the fear laced in their older brother's voice. Kiku was never scared… or at least… he never showed that he was scared… of anything. "_Run_ before you can be found…" there was a meaning behind the line this time that made the boys peek out from under the covers to stare at each other in horror. "For _he_is on the loose today…" It wasn't "I"… it was something else. "Run before… I can say…" and then silence.

"He wants to play the game…" Yong Soo whispered towards Hong, voice layered with shock and panic.

They waited a few seconds… and then it came again.

A dark giggle. _"Children, children, all around…"_  
><strong>Silence.<strong>  
><em>"Run before you can be found…"<em>  
><strong>Silence<strong>  
><em>"For it is on the loose today."<em>  
><strong>Silence<strong>  
><em>"Run and Hide before I say…"<em>

Hong and Yong Soo scrambled out of their beds, figuring it was safer to hide than to stay there in a vulnerable place. The two agreed on hiding in the small broom closet, their favorite place to hide. Kiku always said that the closet was too small for anyone to hide in and would always call the game off when they were in there. They kept their hands over their mouths to quiet themselves and their breathing, listening to the quiet shuffling of feet.

It was silent again for a long time.

And then further away from the hiding boys, came a rhythmic sound.

_THUD, shuffle, shuffle, THUD, shuffle, shuffle…THWACK…THWACK…THWACK…_

They heard the noise coming closer and closer to where they were, crouched down in the back of the closet.

They heard Kiku's whispering again. This time close to tears. _"Children, children… all around… Run before you can be found… For I am on the loose today… Run and Hide before I say…"_ Silence… and then… right outside of the door, they heard the quietest, most fearful, _"Boo?"_

Yong Soo opened his mouth to answer, 'Hello, Kiku!' but Hong reached over and wrapped a hand over his mouth, ordering him to keep silent.

Their breathing picked up slightly, still quiet as ever though.

Silence stretched for a while.

To the right of the two boys inside the closet came another voice. One they had only heard once say their chant. "Hello, Kiku." A dark giggle followed it.

The sound made ice shoot up the boy's backs, freezing where they were.

A whimper was heard outside before Kiku whispered to the two boys, "Okay… new game. Im Yong Soo is 'It' now." The rhythmic _THUD, shuffle, shuffle, THUD, shuffle, shuffle, THWACK… THWACK… THWACK…_returned again.

When Yao returned home that evening, he noticed three things: 1. Was that the front gate of their house was swinging wide open… 2. Was that the front door was standing wide open… and 3. Was that there was an open letter sitting on the table in the living room addressed to 'Wang Yao, Honda Kiku, Im Yong Soo, and Hong Kong.' He picked it up curiously and read over what it said.

_"I want to play your game… I'm in the children's room… We can all play together."_

Yao cursed to himself and grabbed the closest weapon he could find, which happened to be Kiku's katana that was always with the Japanese boy. He silently made his way through the hallways, searching for any sign of the children or the intruder. He honey brown eyes swept the area; his whole body tensed; his ears trained on any bit of noise that came from his home. He checked every room, every corner, every hiding spot. And even checked the children's room, ready for some sort of monster to step into his line of vision.

But there was nothing.

No sign of the children…

No sign of an intruder…

Only Yao.

He didn't know what to do! He was a powerful nation that had just had his younger brothers, his _children_, taken away from him without any hint of where they went! What was he _supposed_to do in a situation like this?

Yao covered his face with his hands, rubbing it slowly.

**X~*~X**

The next night, Yao was not prepared for what he found. He was in the kitchen, making tea because he needed something that would calm his frayed nerves. He had opened the cabinets underneath the kitchen sink and had found his little Yong Soo, eyes sewn shut and covered in blood, stuffed inside it. He had yelped in surprise and let a low and sorrowful moan slip from his throat when he realized what it was.

The next day, it was Hong's body, stuffed in Yao's bedroom closet; eyes sewn shut and covered in blood as well. Yao was _not_ about to call Arthur and tell him what had happened to his distant brother. Definitely not. Arthur would _kill him_. His shoulders shook as he covered his mouth with his hand and merely stared at the body, unable to touch it.

The night directly after that one was the night that he found Kiku. Eyes sewn shut, covered in blood, and stuffed into a cupboard that was way too small for his body. Yao cried out as he snatched his brother up into his arms, tears pricking his eyes. It had been too much this week! Too, too much for the Chinese man to handle. He cradled the body close to his chest, whispering in rapid Mandarin that _'This wasn't real. It couldn't be real. It's not real.'_

The deaths were mourned privately and the bodies were burned.

A familiar Russian by the name of Ivan Braginski was found, dead in the broom closet a week later. He had been announced missing a week before. A sewing kit was clutched tightly in his cold dead hands. The sight had nearly given Yao a heart attack. Ivan was always pestering the Chinese nation, and he definitely wasn't expecting to find him in such a place.

A single note was hiding inside of the kit. _"Oh, it took you quite some time to find me, Yao-Yao… I've grown bored of this game. And yet I've still won."_

**X~*~X**

Giggles surrounded the five members of the Allied forces who all sat in shock around Yao's table.

_THUD shuffle, shuffle…THUD shuffle, shuffle… THWACK…THWACK…THWACK…_

Little Kiku's eyes had been sewn shut before he went searching for the boys…

_Children, children all around…  
>Run before you can be found…<br>For he is on the loose today…  
>Run and Hide before it says…<br>Boo!_

Yao smiled faintly. "Hello, Kiku."

**X~*~X**

**A/N:  
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"**I don't see why people add disclaimers in their stories. I mean obviously they don't own it or they would be multimillionaires that actually did something with their life instead of writing things for fanfiction. If they actually owned all of this shit then it would've happened and they wouldn't even bother to think about this dumbass website." – One of my friends on disclaimers.**

**~Melody Syper Carston**


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